let's listen to president obama as he answered that question in the debate this week to inspect the first role of the government is to keep people safe. that is the most basic function, and as commander-in-chief, that is something that i have worked on and thought about every single day that i've been in the oval office. but i also believe that government has the capacity, the federal government has the capacity to help open up opportunities and create ladders of opportunity and create frameworks' where the american people can succeed. the genius of america is the free enterprise system and freedom, and the fact that people can go out there and start a business, work on an idea, make their own decisions, but as abraham lincoln understood, there's also things we do better today. so, in the middle of the civil war, abraham lincoln said let's help finance the transcontinental railroad. let's start the national academy of sciences. let's start the land grant colleges because we want to give the gateway if they are giving opportunity we are all going to be better off. that doesn't restrict peo